London Cycling Festival the 'Ideal Legacy' for the Olympics, says Mark Cavendish

A TWO-DAY cycling festival, starting in the summer of 2013, is to be one of the first sporting legacies of the London Olympics, it was announced today (26.01.12).

The London Cycling Festival aims to attract upwards of 100,000 people onto two-wheels for the event, which features on its first day a course for 70,000 fun cyclists taking in top London landmarks through motor-traffic-free streets.

On day two, 35,000 professional and club cyclists get the chance to shoot around a 100-mile route based on the Olympic road race course.

"This is the ideal legacy not only for our world-class team of cyclists and paracyclists, but also for thousands of amateur cyclists who will hopefully be inspired by our performance at the Olympic Games," said world cycling champion Mark Cavendish (pictured).

"This event will be a fantastic opportunity to show Britain at its best and to share our Olympic cycling heritage."

Pencilled in for August 2013, the London Cycling Festival is expected to become an annual event.